The Bends
by The Dangerous Pen
Summary: Major budget cuts can make Christmas at the Mansion just a tad difficult...[CHAPTER TWO UP]
1. Typical Chaos

**Author's Note: I posted this a few days before Christmas, in such a hurry that I missed a few minor mistakes. I also neglected to update it for over a month (bah...) Well, I corrected/edited/added to this chapter a bit, and the second chapter is almost done! It's also fairly long compared to this one, hopefully that makes it up to the few people who might have been waiting for it crickets chirp...So, enjoy!**

* * *

It was but a few days before Christmas, and the Smash Brother's Mansion had not yet seen a single flake of snow. Every other sign of winter could be found; the grass around the house had lightened to the color of straw, and any outdoor source of water had thoroughly frozen over, but it still lacked the customary blanket of white to add the final touch. 

Inside the mansion, however, the atmosphere was warm and comfortable, with sounds of movement and speech giving it the feeling of chaos that had become perfectly normal.

_Chestnuts roasting on an open fire_

_Jack Frost nipping at your nose..._

Link glanced around nervously. He hated singing, yet every year he found himself thrown into the "Annual Melee Men's Choir" only to be thrown back out again for his horrible singing voice.

_...Yule tide carols, being sung by a choir-_

"STOP!" Dr. Mario, the self-appointed conductor bellowed suddenly. "What's that horrible noise? It sounds like a broken chain saw with a roll of duct tape wrapped around the blade!" Link blushed, but the Italian doctor snapped his fingers and said"Continue."

As the singing continued, however, Dr. Mario walked around, listening to each individual singer as he went along. When he reached Link, he paused and rubbed his chin.

"Hmm..." he muttered, and Link braced himself for the inevitable. "'Allo, what's this..."

The plumber/doctor reached behind the Hylian warrior and pulled out a broken chain saw, with a roll of duct tape wrapped around the blade.

"Well!" Dr. Mario exclaimed, giving Link a playful nudge. "That's not something you see everyday, is it?"

Unsure of whether to feel relieved or cheated, Link forced a smile as the choir resumed singing yet again, only to be stopped within two seconds of beginning. Dr. Mario tapped his foot impatiently, looking sternly down the long line of fighters.

"Okay, now I know it's one of you people this time," he insisted angrily. "So now I'll have to listen to each of you individually. Link, why don't you start?"

Defeated, Link shuffled his feet and prepared himself for the worst. When he was finally ready, he opened his mouth...

-

Meanwhile, the Children's Melee Choir was practicing under the direction of a less-than-enthusiastic Pikachu. It was a small choir, made up of only Ness, Young Link, and the Ice Climbers. The twins and the psychic were happy enough, but Young Link hated singing, especially Christmas carols. He sulked during most of the breaks Pikachu gave them, and was tempted to ignore Nana while she spoke to him during the twenty-seventh one (which the frustrated Pokémon spent slamming his head against a nearby wall).

"Hi, Young Link!" she greeted him cheerfully. "How are you?"

"I've been better," the young swordsman muttered.

"Oh." She frowned, but quickly reverted to her former mood. "Well, at least it's almost Christmas and we get to do fun stuff, like singing. I like singing, don't you?"

"No..."

"Oh." she began to fidget nervously, before changing the subject. "Well, what do you want for Christmas"

"Nothing."

This last answer caught the attention of Popo and Ness.

"Nothing!"

"How can you not want anything for Christmas?" Popo demanded.

Young Link shrugged. "I dunno, I just don't."

"Pika-PI!" Pikachu commanded angrily. Before they could carry their conversation any further, the four children were whisked back into their singing positions.

During the last twenty minutes of practice, Young Link was painfully aware of Nana's gaze, which rested on him whenever the little Ice Climber thought he was not looking. His nerves were on edge by the time the dinner bell rang, and he bolted through the door before Pikachu could dismiss the choir, leaving the Pokémon's agitated cries behind.

"He's so weird..." Ness exclaimed as he watched the Hylian's green hat disappear down the long hallway.

"And grumpy," Popo agreed. Nana frowned thoughtfully.

"I think he's just sad," she suggested, and Popo laughed.

"You think everyone's sad" he pointed out, before turning to Ness. "Remember that birthday party she threw for Mewtwo, when his real birthday was three months off" Ness nodded eagerly.

"Yeah, and she dropped his cake on him!" Nana blushed as they laughed, and Popo wrapped his arm around her.

"Hey, don't worry about it, Nana" he insisted. "Compassion's a good trait to have. Come on, let's get some food before Kirby eats it all!"

-

The dining hall of the Smash Brothers Mansion was very large, but quite plain. The only decorations were an old chandelier and an extremely unattractive Sonic the Hedgehog centerpiece, which had been sliced, burnt, bent, and partially melted during many dinnertime brawls.

Efforts to make the giant room somewhat presentable had been abandoned a long time ago, and it was easy to see why. Table manners ranged from great to atrocious, with food flying in every direction: Bowser breathed fire onto his food before emptying the plate into his mouth, and Kirby simply sucked up anything unlucky enough to cross his path, catching Pichu on one occasion. Peach sat calmly between both of them, cutting her food into sections and making sure she was using the right silverware.

When most of the fighters were finished (which took all but five minutes), Mario stepped up to the stage on the north side of the dining hall and began testing the microphone for the seventeenth time that night. "'Allo? It's-a me, Mario!"

"We know who you are, damnit!" Falco shouted from his seat between Fox and Jigglypuff.

"Umm, okay then!" Mario replied, fingering the microphone stand nervously. "My fellow Smashers, I have an unfortunate announcement to make: due to the cuts in our budget, our annual Christmas tournament has been canceled."

"_What_?" Captain Falcon cried, but he was the only one to react. The rest of the fighters whispered to each other in confusion before Fox stood up.

"Umm, Mario?" he asked. "None of us knew we had a Christmas tournament."

"Well, we did," Captain Falcon insisted. "And I won it every year by forfeit."

"That's because you were the only one who knew about it, you dolt!" Samus pointed out angrily, before rounding on Mario. "And since when did we have a budget?"

"Umm...okay, forget I said that," the plumber muttered quickly, tugging at his mustache. "Because I have another unfortunate announcement: As you all know, Christmas is coming up."

For dramatic effect he created a pause, during which Luigi pointed out, "that's not exactly unfortunate..."

"Silence!" Mario screeched. "As I was saying, Christmas is coming up this week, and as you know, we all like to decorate the mansion during this time. _No, that's not the bad news!_" He added, as Zelda opened her mouth to speak. "The bad news is that our decorating and gift budgets have been cut, which means we'll have to - oof!"

Mario's announcement was interrupted as the angry Smashers began lobbing stale dinner rolls and forks at him.

"Hey, hey!" he protested, dodging a chair. "Don't shoot the messenger!" The throwing stopped immediately. "Thank you," the plumber huffed.

"Anyway, our decorating budget has been cut, so we can't buy a tree this year. However, Link, Marth, and Roy have offered to cut one down for us!"

"What!" Link cried, looking up from his plate and giving his younger self a chance to swipe his cupcake. Marth and Roy looked at each other; the only languages they knew were Japanese and Korean, so they had only picked up their names from Mario's speech. "I've never cut down a tree before!"

His protest was drowned out by cheers from the other smashers. Zelda beamed at him, Samus gave him a thumbs up, and Marth and Roy still looked confused.

"Great" he muttered, sinking further into his chair.

-

_Where is it?_ She tore eagerly through another pile of laundry. The sun had gone down a long time ago, and the laundry room was so infrequently used that no one had bothered to install a light, making her search almost impossible. She finally gave up, and decided to check the one place she had not searched already: the kitchen.

It was quite normal to find Kirby trapped in the refrigerator at this hour, but she had not prepared herself to find someone sitting on the counter.

"Aahhh!" she cried, as she turned on the light and noticed the lone figure staring wistfully out of the window.

"Ahhhhh!" Link agreed, reaching idly for his sword and then pausing when he realized who had interrupted his moment of peace. "Oh, it's just you."

"What do you mean, 'just you'" Samus snapped playfully. "I was ready to sink your head in!"

He smiled and returned to star-gazing as she opened random cabinets, drawers and appliances until it was obvious that what she was looking for was not there. With a heavy sigh, she joined her friend at the window and found that her headphones were around his neck.

"Were you looking for these?" he asked, noticing her quick glance.

"Nope," she lied. "You can listen to them if you want."

They sat quietly for a couple of minutes, watching the wind blow away a few pine trees and a cow, before Samus decided to break the silence.

"Thinking deep thoughts, my stiletto-eared friend?"

"Nope," he lied. "Just thinking about cutting down that tree."

She smiled. "You aren't looking forward to that, are you?"

He shook his head. "No, but since I obviously 'volunteered', it looks like I'll be doing it anyway."

Samus peered up at the sky and discovered something of interest on the ceiling above them.

"Don't you love how our budget's been cut," she mused. "Yet someone found a way to put mistletoe up anyway?"

Link followed her gaze as she winked and added"You know what happens under the mistletoe, don't you?"

His face reddened slightly before he smirked and held out his hand. "Umm...friendly handshake?"

"Well, aren't we generous?" she accepted with a hearty laugh. Facing the window once more, she quickly changed the subject. "So, Dr. Mario kick you out of the choir yet?"

He nodded. "Twice."

"Twice?" Samus demanded, raising an eyebrow. "What, did you try to rejoin?"

"No, I mean twice as in, 'Link, you're fired! Twice!'" he explained, pulling off a perfect imitation of Dr. Mario's high-pitched voice.

"Oh."

They sat in silence for another five minutes, broken only when Samus leapt off of the counter, leaving it to creak under the absence of her weight.

"I think I'll call it a day, and you should probably be off soon, too. G'night" She returned his wave and exited the kitchen, feeling strangely disappointed.

He watched her leave before returning his attention to the cloudy night sky, reveling in the soft glow of the moon at the occasional star that twinkled through the haze. His concentration was shattered, however, when a huge farmhouse went sailing by, guided by the angry wind.

"Oh yeah," he muttered. "Definitely time to go to bed."

**Did you like it? If you did, please review, and if you didn't, well...review anyway! I could use some feedback! Next chapter should be up shortly (and I mean it this time!)**


	2. Shall We Dance?

**Disclaimer: I own only the plot.**

**Author's Note: Finally. I've updated! (Enter crickets)**

**Only two things to say about this chapter at the moment:**

**Odd.**

**Marth and Roy actually speak in this chapter, and my knowledge of the Japanese language is pretty limited, so I apologize in advance for any errors.**

* * *

At exactly 5:58 AM, Mr. Game and Watch woke with a quiet "BEEP!" After the practice of giving everyone in the mansion an alarm clock had failed miserably, he had been assigned the task of sending out alarms when needed. It was an easy enough task, all he had to do was produce loud and annoying objects (and for particularly deep sleepers, miniature copies of himself) and send them to various locations in the mansion. The only difficulty was keeping the recipients from killing him when they woke up. 

This morning he needed to send three alarms for six o' clock, so with one wave of his hammer he created three virtual bombs, ushered them through his titanium, fifty-lock door, and waited.

-

Marth entered the kitchen five minutes later, dusting ashes and soot from his hair. He was surprised to find Roy already sitting at the table, clean and humming happily to himself.

"Ohayo!" _Good morning! _The fiery-haired general greeted his friend with a smile before offering him an apple.

"Arigato," _Thank you, _Marth replied, taking a bite out of the crisp, sour fruit. He watched the sun slowly spread its light over the horizon, before turning back to Roy. _Where is Link?_

As if on cue, the Hylian wandered into the kitchen, ranting and covered in soot.

"...Why?" he mumbled. "Why bombs? A water balloon would have done nicely, but _nooo_...I mean, it isn't as if I wouldn't hear it-"

"Ohayo!" Roy cried suddenly, causing both of his friends to jump.

"A good morning, indeed!" Mario replied as he strolled into the room, still wearing his Starman pajamas and closely followed by Pichu. "'Cause today, we're getting a tree!" Marth and Roy simply stared at him, and Link raised his hand.

"What exactly are we supposed to cut it down with?" he demanded, and Mario scratched the back of his head.

"Erm...well, you've got swords, haven't you?" the plumber pointed out. It took a few seconds for this to register with Link, who then clutched his sword protectively.

"We can't use our swords," he protested. "It'll dull the blades!"

"Oh." Mario looked thoughtful for a second, and began rummaging (and scratching) through his back pocket until he found what he was looking for. "Here, you can use this."

Link stared blankly at the object the plumber was offering to him. "A butter knife."

"Yes."

There was a slight pause.

"You want us to go out there and cut down a tree with a butter knife."

"Yes."

"A _plastic _butter knife."

"I've got a wooden one, if plastic's a problem."

Before Link could reply, a small paw tugged at the bottom of his tunic.

"Pichu?" Pichu asked, holding out a chainsaw. After returning the Pokemon's generosity with a puzzled glance, the swordsman examined the chainsaw closely.

"Umm...thanks," he muttered, and showed the potentially dangerous piece of equipment to Marth and Roy. "I guess we could use this thing."

"Personally, I would have just gone with the butter knife," Mario insisted. "But to each his own, I suppose." He then grabbed three coats from a nearby coat hanger and began pushing the trio through the door. "Now go out there and get us a _good _tree. Don't bring us back a Wal-mart or anything stupid like they did last year."

Before the three swordsmen could inquire about the characteristics of a "good" tree (or even what a Wal-mart was), they were shoved into the icy December morning, armed with swords, a plastic butter knife and a chainsaw. Today would be one hell of a day.

-

The one person who would have gladly switched places with the three swordsmen was grudgedly approaching the Tendo Mall, accompanied by Zelda, Fox, Samus, Ness, and the two Ice Climbers. Enticing as the bright decorations and holiday-oriented stores were, shopping was far from his idea of a good time. Nana, however, was brimming with excitement.

"Aren't they all pretty, Young Link?" she asked him as soon as they stepped inside.

"I guess so," he muttered, letting his eyes absorb the tinted lights and glittering ornaments hanging from the walls and ceiling.

"There's so much stuff here," Nana mused. "But only one thing I really want. You wanna see?"

Young Link nodded idly, and allowed himself to be led by the hand to a series of huge shelves crammed with books. "You want a book?" he asked skeptically, and she nodded.

"Yep. There's one I wanted, and I hope they still have it..." She sorted through some large, leather-bound tomes until she found what she was looking for: a tiny gold-plated book with a length of rope attached to the spine.

"What's that?" the young Hylian asked, suddenly curious.

"A book of random literature," she explained. "It contains the work of almost every famous writer ever to exist." Young Link frowned.

"How would you fit all of that in such a small book?" he demanded.

She smiled and handed it to him. "Open it," she urged.

He obeyed, and as soon as the book was fully opened, it sprouted seven times its normal size. When he closed it, it zipped back to its normal size with a faint "ping!"

"Young Link? Nana?" A soft voice called them from further down the aisle, and the two children looked up to find Zelda, Popo, and Ness searching for them. When she noticed them the Princess smiled and beckoned them with a graceful wave of her hand.

"There you two are," she exclaimed happily as they approached. "I'm taking you all to see the Santa Claus, if you're ready."

"Where'd Samus and Fox go?" Nana asked.

I don't know," Zelda replied thoughtfully. "I believe they went to another shop."

Nana nodded and turned to Young Link. "You wanna go see Santa?"

"No," he muttered, but followed her and the others anyway.

-

"Figures," Samus grumbled. "The one year a Best Buy blows into this place is the one year our 'gift budget' is cut." The bounty hunter was looking through the slightly tilted electronics shop at that very moment with Fox, who simply shrugged.

"I don't really mind buying presents with my own money," he said as he examined a pair of wireless headphones.

"Neither do I," Samus admitted. "It's just that...what the hell..."

Fox followed her gaze to a video game display featuring none other than Super Smash Brothers Melee.

"That's...creepy," he observed.

"Very creepy," Samus agreed.

After staring at it for another ten minutes, they began to look around the rest of the store, until Samus found something else that made her stop in her tracks. _Link would love one of these, _she thought, running her fingers through a row of portable CD players. Even though it had occurred nearly two years ago, the warm memory was still vivid in her mind...

-

_They sat in her room, attempting to think up a strategy for the next day's tournament. Unfortunately for her, he was more interested in the technology around him._

_"Okay," she said."With C.Falc being fast as he is, he'll probably try to distract us while Bowser-"_

_"What's this?" he demanded suddenly, holding up her CD player._

_"Link, you have the attention span of a walnut," she sighed, but slipped the headphones over his ears anyway. _Maybe if I show him this, he'll leave the rest of my stuff alone...

_He took no offense to her comment and waited patiently as she slid a shiny metal disk into the strange machine and pressed "play." He winced immediately as the sound bombarded his sensitive ears, so she showed him how to turn the volume down, and watched his face slowly brighten._

His eyes, _she thought to herself_. They've changed...

-

"Umm...Samus?"

The bounty hunter jumped and looked down to find Fox gazing up at her in concern. "What?"

"I was just saying, if you're getting that for Link, you should get him a CD, too," he said, giving her a wry smile. "Peach is getting pretty tired of him swiping her Britney Spears CDs."

"Yeah, but which one should I get him?" she wondered.

"Doesn't matter," he replied with a shrug. "He'll listen to _anything_, Sam. I caught him listening to Mario's polka once."

Their conversation was interrupted by a sudden commotion out in the mall, near Santa's workshop.

-

"Water fountain...telephone...women's...refrigerator...there!"

Young Link breathed a sigh of relief as he finally reached the door marked MEN. When he stepped inside, however, it turned into a gasp when he found the mall's Santa at the sink, washing his hands and muttering to himself.

"What! Oh, you must be one of the new elves," the fat man muttered. "Better job than mine, I suppose. This beard's itchy as hell."

Eyeing "Santa" suspiciously, Young Link ventured further into the restroom. When he was finished and beginning to wash his hands, the grumpy man spoke to him again.

"How do you like these kids, huh?" he demanded. "'Santa, I want a pony!' 'Santa, I want a Greyhound Bus!' 'Santa, I want this! I want that!' Little brats, that's what they are. If it were up to me, they'd all get lumps of uranium, forget coal!"

_Well, I'm sure as hell glad _I'm _not asking you for anything_, Young Link thought to himself. _Personally, I don't see why the other kids like you so much - _"Ahh!"

He interrupted himself with a cry of alarm as "Santa" pulled off not only his hat, but his curly white beard as well.

"What's with you?" the old man demanded, tossing water on his face. "Never seen a fellow under-paid mall employee before?"

"Too much decaf," Young Link explained in the deepest voice he could muster, taking care to keep his head lowered.

"Whatever," the Santa-imposter replied. With a grunt of annoyance, he pulled his beard and hat over his head once more and began to make his way to the door. "Well, I'm off to suck up to more stupid, spoiled kids. See ya."

Young Link watched, wide-eyed, as the fake Santa left. Then, as he absent-mindedly washed his hands for the fifteenth time, he began to devise a plan.

-

"Well, this isn't so bad," Link admit as he, Marth and Roy trudged through the forest bordering the east side of the mansion. "We get to spend some time outside, and at least it's not snowing-"

As soon as the word "snow" left his mouth, he found himself buried under a huge pile, waving his arms and screaming, "Lmph nmph! _Nhhmmmm_!" His two friends immediately pulled him out, before continuing on their way as if nothing had happened.

They did not get too far, however, before they were stopped again, this time by an amazing sight. A gigantic pine tree stood in the middle of the path, almost as big as the Mansion itself. Tempted as the three swordsmen were to take it back with them, common sense would tell them that it would not fit.

..._if_ they had any.

"How do you turn this thing on?" Link demanded, banging the chainsaw against the tree. Roy decided to help by whacking the confused Hylian with a large stick.

Marth watched this pitiful display for exactly two minutes before he decided to intervene. The blue-haired prince calmly took the chainsaw from Link, while allowing Roy to continue pummeling him mercilessly.

"このょうな忀を掭りなさい," Marth explained. "そしてひもを侩つ伣りなきい。いいですか。?"

Link answered him with a blank stare.

With a grunt of frustration, the prince tossed the chainsaw to Roy, who caught it and reluctantly followed his instructions. The chainsaw buzzed to life immediately, causing the general to panic and fling it into the deep vegetation.

Marth and Link watched as it sailed through the rest of the forest, cutting down everything in its path with the exception of the tree the three swordsmen had been aiming for in the first place.

"_Awwwww_," they groaned in disappointment.

"Oh well," said Link, pulling a cactus from the wreckage. "Let's just take this one."

-

The manager of the Tendo Mall was _not_ a happy man that day, and with a glance at the people sitting in front of his desk, one could clearly see why.

Zelda say to his far left, looking embarrassed and nervous; to her left Fox was struggling to suppress a laugh as Samus fumed. Both Ice Climbers shared a chair in the middle, whistling and twiddling their thumbs. Ness appeared to be the only one with no clue as to what was going on, and Young Link sat next to him, glaring at the manager with his arms crossed.

To the manager's right sat two Santa's, one sporting a black eye and a cast on his left arm, and the other highly uninjured and munching on a pineapple.

"...So," the manager finally spoke, after five minutes of awkward silence. "Anyone feel like telling me how this," he nodded toward the injured Santa, "happened?" Zelda raised her hand, but the injured Santa interjected immediately.

"It was _horrible_!" he sobbed. "I was just minding my own business and talkin' to the kids, when he-" he paused to point a trembling finger at Young Link, "Attacked me! He jumped me out of the blue, wailing about some fake Santa conspiracy!" The manager raised an eyebrow at Young Link, who quickly jumped to his own defense.

"Well, he _was_ fake!" the young Hylian insisted. "I saw him in the bathroom, taking his beard off!"

"Oh, that was me," the highly uninjured Santa announced through a mouthful of pineapple. "I'm Frank, by the way. The guy you beat up here is Santa."

Nana's eyes widened. "You mean the real one?"

"Nah, his mom just named him that," Frank explained dismissively. "Although, I'm pretty sure the real one is gonna put your little fairy friend over there on his naughty list now." Fox coughed.

"I've been on his naughty list for the past four years," Young Link pointed out bluntly.

"...And you're about to be added to my little ban list here," the manager countered. He noticed Zelda, Fox, and Samus stiffen. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna just up and ban all seven of you."

The older fighters relaxed, allowing the manager to finish his sentence. "...I'm banning all seven of you _and_ the rest of the freaks up at that Mansion!"

"What? _Why_?" Zelda demanded.

The manager decided to take a break from chewing the end of his pen to address the flustered princess. "You wanna know how much damage my mall has taken since that Mansion was built?"

"No," Samus muttered, but the manager ignored her.

"Twenty-seven thousand pesos!" he lamented. "And three rupees, whatever the hell those are."

Zelda suddenly seemed thoughtful. "If I give you the three rupees, will you remove the ban?"

"Well, let me think..." the manager replied, equally lost in thought.

_Thirty minutes later..._

"..._No_!" he roared. "Now get out of my office!"

The seven fighters reluctantly obeyed, Samus carrying Young Link by the nape of the neck. After staring stupidly at their boss until they figured he wasn't going to do anything else, the two Santa's followed suit.

Once he was sure everyone was gone, the Nameless Manager put on his business face and began spinning aimlessly in his chair, giggling like a small school girl.

-

"Samus Aran, you're needed in the Security Room."

Samus sighed. She had just barely escaped having to clean up the disaster in the dining hall, and had hoped to spend the evening without having to attend to any "duties of captainship".

_So much for that plan, _she thought to herself as she reached a door marked "SECURITY ROOM: AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY."

The Security Room was really nothing but a dark room with several television monitors displaying all of the public rooms in the mansion and a lawn chair. It was rarely used, which is why Samus was so surprised to find Falco, Fox, and Master Hand watching something intently on one of the monitors.

"Samus! There you are," Master Hand greeted her as she entered. "Have a seat."

As the bounty hunter sat down she noticed that, despite the solemn aura of the giant hand, Fox and Falco were trying quite hard not to laugh. Then she noticed what was on monitor number fourteen.

Link, Marth, and Roy were dancing in the weight room, using strange combinations of fighting moves and tripping over equipment. Samus shrugged.

"Is this what you called us down for?" she asked skeptically. "They do that all the time."

"Oh, do they?" Master Hand countered. "Well, you can go down there and tell them to put a stop to it."

"Why?" Falco demanded. "They're just dancing...well, trying to, anyway, but-"

The giant hand began tapping his pinky impatiently. "There's a reason we're having budget problems, you know. We can't afford to have people wasting our resources."

"Speaking of this 'budget,'" Samus began. "I've been meaning to ask-"

"ENOUGH!" Master Hand bellowed. "I still need you to get those three idiots out of the weight room!"

"Alright, damn!" Samus muttered. She left the room and slammed the door behind her, sliding on an icy puddle as she did so.

Another side effect of the failing budget had taken place in the afternoon, which apparently required the Mansion's heating to be shut down. To make matters even better, the air conditioner was stuck on high, transforming the mansion into an indoor winter wonderland.

There were many Smashers still roaming the hallways, and they all used different methods to combat the cold: some wandered about in bundles of twigs and mysterious-looking cloaks, while others simply jogged wherever they went. Still others had gone through the trouble of setting themselves on fire.

After much sliding into walls, stairs, and people, Samus eventually reached the weight room, where the three swordsmen were still dancing around in circles to Creed. Their dance was a lot less amusing from a closer perspective; their fierce, billowing movements seemed to have feeling and purpose to them now. She felt almost guilty as she entered the room, as if she were imposing on something sacred and vital.

Link was the first to detect her presence: he stopped dancing immediately and his face began to redden. Marth noticed his friend's reaction and followed suit, but Roy simply smiled and took the bewildered bounty hunter's armored hands in his.

"Roy," she said sternly as he began to guide her in the dancing circle. "Master Hand doesn't want you guys dancing in here anymore..." He stared blankly back at her, and she sighed. "You didn't understand a word I said, did you?" Before she could try to elaborate, the red-haired general spun her with one hand and passed her on to Marth, who bowed and gently took her hand.

"Listen to me," she insisted firmly. "You have to stop." The prince was no better at deciphering her speech than Roy, however, so with another bow he passed the thoroughly-annoyed bounty hunter on to Link.

The Hylian warrior greeted her with a shy smile before offering his hand, and she accepted readily, relieved to have found someone who could understand English.

"Link," she began, and paused as he lifted his arm to twirl her. "Master Hand wants you guys to stop dancing in here.

He frowned, and Samus noticed a slight droop in his ears. "Why?"

"Something about wasting resources." She shrugged and watched as a sly smile spread over his face.

"Roy!" he called, and made a gesture over Samus's shoulder. The general paused in mid-leap before returning his friend's smile and turning out the lights. "There. Now we're not wasting anything!"

Before Samus could protest, she was passed back to Roy, who winked and exclaimed something to her in Japanese. She could barely make out the side of his face from the amber glow of the stereo, but managed to stomp, rather purposefully, on his foot anyway.

"Listen to me!" she commanded angrily as Roy howled in pain and hopped about until he hit a nearby wall. "If you guys don't get out of here, Master Hand-"

Too late. Before she could finish her sentence, a huge white-gloved hand knocked the door clean off of its hinges. It was not Master Hand.

"Well!" Crazy Hand cried. "A party, and I wasn't invited! Move out of the way, you sly vixens!"

"_I'll_ take care of this, Crazy," Master Hand assured his brother. "You just go make sure all unnecessary lights and appliances are off-"

"The appliances!" Crazy Hand replied ecstatically. "My prom date was a toaster, if you must know. I shall turn them all off in alphabetical order!"

The four fighters released the breathes they had been holding as the dismembered hand floated down the hallway, wiggling his fingers gleefully and singing German Christmas carols. Their relief was short-lived, however.

"Samus," Master Hand began calmly. "I send you down here to complete a task. Not only did you fail to complete that task, but you joined in the very activity that countered it. As a result, you are suspended from use of the weight room for three weeks."

The bounty hunter's eyes widened beneath her helmet. "Three weeks? Master Hand-"

"It wasn't her fault," Link interjected quietly. "She tried-"

"I wouldn't worry so much about her punishment, if I were in your place," the giant hand informed him, "Because all three of you are banned from further use of the weight room until you learn to use it properly. Now, excuse me while I go destroy the air conditioner."

They watched him drift slowly down the hall, humming to himself as he did so.

Samus sighed, and the three swordsmen gazed at her apologetically.

"Oh, don't worry about it," she assured them with a wink. "I should have stepped on one of your feet sooner." They all smiled, despite the fact that Marth and Roy had no idea what she said.

After an awkward pause, the four fighters began to disperse, each heading their own separate way.

"Oyasu minasai!" _Good Night! _Roy cried, and Marth waved.

"Umm...yeah. That." Samus replied uneasily. "See you tomorrow."

She began to turn, when suddenly she felt she had something to add. "Hey, Link?"

"Eh?" he asked, his eyes peeking back from around the corner.

"You're not too bad at dancing," she commented, berating herself silently. "You should do it more often."

What she could see of his face smiled, before disappearing and leaving her alone under the soft glowing of torch light.

-

It was the end of the day and Young Link was tired; he lay his pillow down, and himself with it. It had become quite normal for him to sleep in the hallway, although few knew why.

As he finally found an ice less place on the floor and closed his eyes, he felt a soft pressure float over him, covering him warmth. For a second he simply accepted it, reveling in the silent comfort. Then, when realization hit, his eyes snapped open to reveal Nana standing before him, holding the ends of a blanket.

"I thought you might want s-some cover," she stammered, just as surprised as he was.

At any other time he would have declined, but in a way he had already accepted, and he was too tired to care.

"Thank you," he murmured, before closing his eyes once more. He expected to hear the sound of her footsteps fading, but instead he felt her sit down next to him, watching him with a solemn curiosity.

"Don't you get cold out here?" she asked. He shook his head and remained silent.

"Do you always sleep out here?"

"Do you always ask so many questions?" he countered, opening his eyes and keeping his gaze straight ahead.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, before he noticed something strange at her side. "What's that?"

"It's a candy cane," she explained, breaking off a piece and handing it to him.

"It's blue," he pointed out, and she nodded.

"Blueberry."

"I don't taste anything," he observed, and Nana stared at him.

"What, do you mean you don't taste anything different?" she asked.

He shook his head. "No. Never mind."

They were silent once more, the distant sound of song remaining audible until Nana noticed the timid white particles falling from the cold, dark sky.

"It's finally snowing," she whispered, but Young Link was fast asleep.

* * *

**A/N: Whew. Well, there's chapter two. Not exactly my favorite chapter of the story, but it is necessary to the plot. Any reviews would be greatly appreciated!**

**Chapter three will be a lot more exciting, and will probably hopefully take less time to write, since I know almost exactly what I'm doing.**

**Blah. 5:30 AM.**


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